Explained: What is ‘pickleball’, America’s fastest growing sport?

In the United States, a sport called 'pickleball' has become one of the fastest growing sports in the country. What is it, and how did it get its name?

Pickleball is most commonly played as doubles, but can also be played with single opponents. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

In the United States, a curious sport called ‘pickleball’ — a combination of elements taken from tennis, badminton and ping-pong — has become one of the fastest growing sports in the country.

The story goes that in the summer of ‘65, Joel Pritchard, then congressman from Washington State, and Bill Bell, a businessman, returned to Pritchard’s home and found their families had nothing to do. The home was equipped with a badminton court, but when the Pritchard’s and Bells’ could not find a full set of badminton rackets, they decided to improvise with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball.

This ingenious idea worked, and over the weekend, the players realised the ball bounced off the asphalt surface well, and the net was lowered from 60 inches to 36 inches. Soon after, specific rules for the game were invented, which borrowed significantly from badminton.

Story continues below this ad

In 1967, the first permanent pickleball court was constructed. The purpose of the game was simple, “to provide a game that the whole family could play together.”

The game reached India in 2006, when a pickleball enthusiast Sunil Valavalkar brought back a few paddles and balls with him from Canada and started giving demonstrations in Mumbai. According to the All India Pickleball Association, the sport has reached over 16 states in India and has around 3,000 registered players.

Is pickleball the fastest growing sport in the US?

According to the US Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SIFA), between 2019 and 2020, there was a 21.3 per cent increase in the number of pickleball participants. In 2020, there were 1,193,000 college graduate pickleball participants.

The US Pickleball Association, the body that governs and promotes the sport and maintains the rules. said in a statement last week that the sport is the fastest growing sport in the country for the last two consecutive years. As of 2022, the sport has 4.8 million participants across the US and has recorded a growth of over 39.3 per cent.

Story continues below this ad

The game is played on a badminton-size court, with the net set to a height of 34 inches at the centre. It is played with a perforated plastic ball and composite or wooden paddles that are roughly twice the size of ping-pong paddles. It can either be played as doubles (two players per team) or singles, even though doubles is more common.

In 2009, the first Nationals Pickleball Tournament was held in Buckeye, Arizona with over 400 players participating. As per SIFA, 61 per cent of participants are men, while 39 per cent are women. The average age for all players is 38.1 years, and the average age of core players (who play more than eight times a year) is 47.5 years. The average age of casual players (who play between 1-7 times a year) is 33.6 years. While 60 per cent of core players are 55 years or older, 79 per cent of the casual players are 54 years or younger.

How did pickleball get its name?

Apart from the story about the invention of the game itself, there’s a debate surrounding the game’s name. The Pickleball Association notes that there is a two-story name debate, with one version saying the game was named after the Pritchards’ dog who was called ‘Pickles’. The other story, which is the Pritchards’ version as well, maintains that the sport was named after the local ‘pickle boat’ crew races of Bainbridge Island in Washington.

When the Pickleball Association investigated the claims, they found the Pritchard’s did own a dog called Pickles, but he was born in 1968, three years after the game was invented and got its name. This meant the dog was named after the game, rather than the other way around.

Story continues below this ad

Newsletter | Click to get the day’s best explainers in your inbox